News

Jury awards family $4.5 million in Eureka police beating death

By Thadeus GreensonThe Times-Standard

Posted:
09/26/2011 11:12:59 AM PDT

Updated:
09/26/2011 11:13:00 AM PDT

OAKLAND -- A federal jury has found that Eureka Police Officers used excessive force against Martin Frederick Cotton II during a violent altercation that preceded his 2007 in-custody death, leading to a $4.5 million judgment against the city.

Cotton, 26, died Aug. 9, 2007, just hours after being involved in several violent altercations at the Eureka Rescue Mission, the last of which involved Eureka Police Department officers. Cotton died several hours later after being found breathing shallowly in a holding cell in the Humboldt County jail.

The Humboldt County Coroner's Office said Cotton died of a subdural hematoma due to blunt force trauma, but stopped short of determining the cause of that trauma.

On Friday, according to court records, a federal jury in Oakland found that EPD officers Adam Laird and Justin Winkle used excessive force against Cotton, while officer Gary Whitmer did not.

Further, the jury found that Laird, Winkle and Whitmer "were deliberately indifferent" to Cotton's serious medical needs when they failed to get him medical treatment before booking him into the Humboldt County jail. Authorities have previously said that Cotton was too combative to be medically screened at the jail.

The jury also found that the city failed to adequately train its police officers in obtaining medical care for arrestees who have had force used against them and that the officers involved acted "maliciously, oppressively or in reckless disregard" of Cotton's constitutional rights.

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The judgment awards $4 million from the city to Cotton's daughter, Siehna Cotton, and $500,000 from the city to Cotton's father, Martin Cotton Sr. Under the judgment, Laird and Winkle were also found personally liable for $30,000 each and Whitmer was found liable for $15,000, all to be paid to Martin Cotton Sr.

Cotton had been held in Humboldt County jail for seven days on an outstanding warrant from Siskiyou County when he was released from custody at about 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 9, 2007. Shortly before 5 p.m., he arrived at the Eureka Rescue Mission and was reportedly involved in a pair of altercations, leading police to be called to the scene.

When police arrived, they quickly became involved with Cotton in what was, from all accounts, a violent altercation. Witnesses described seeing cops use pepper spray, batons, kicks and punches to subdue him.

"I thought it was just brutal," said Shannon Flowers, who witnessed the altercation, in a previous interview with the Times-Standard. "When I heard he died the next day, I cried."

Then-EPD Chief Garr Nielsen was adamant that his officers acted appropriately when faced with a violent, noncompliant suspect, who toxicology reports later showed was under the influence of a high dose of LSD at the time of the altercation. Cotton, Nielsen maintained, was very alive and very combative when EPD officers booked him into the Humboldt County jail.

In the wake of the incident, however, Nielsen changed EPD policy to require that any suspect involved in an altercation -- with police or others -- be treated and evaluated by a medical professional before being booked into jail.

Officials also claimed that Cotton could be seen on a surveillance video thrashing violently in his holding cell at the Humboldt County jail prior to his death and said the fatal subdural hematoma he suffered may have been self-inflicted. Humboldt County refused numerous media and California Public Records Act requests seeking disclosure of the video, citing security concerns.

Friday, local attorney Nancy Delaney, who represented the city of Eureka in the case, could not be reached for comment.

Eureka City Manager David Tyson and Mayor Frank Jager said they hadn't seen the judgment or consulted with Delaney and could not comment on the verdict. Interim Police Chief Murl Harpham -- who took the position after Nielsen was fired without cause in June -- did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Cotton's estate also brought suit against the county of Humboldt but that portion of the suit was settled on the eve of trial, according to local attorney Bill Bragg, who represented the county in the case. The county paid Cotton's estate $100,000 under the settlement, according to County Administrative Officer Phillip Smith-Hanes.

When initially filed, the claim sought unspecified damages in an amount large enough to act as a deterrent.

"Because of the intense trauma and loss that the parents and child of Martin Cotton II suffer as a result of the unwarranted, violent and untimely death of their son and parent (respectively) ... and because of the severity of the unlawful actions of the above named defendants, damages must be set in an amount sufficient to resound through officialdom and to deter such depraved and unlawful conduct," the claim stated.